Labor’s deals stir dust-up in construction

Rigger John Franks and laborer Carlos Callejas of the ironworkers union were on the job at San Vincente Dam, where work for the San Diego County Water Authority is being completed under a project labor agreement.
— John Gibbins / Union-Tribune

Rigger John Franks and laborer Carlos Callejas of the ironworkers union were on the job at San Vincente Dam, where work for the San Diego County Water Authority is being completed under a project labor agreement.
— John Gibbins / Union-Tribune

Ironworkers prepared to bolt together two sections of a cofferdam last week before taking it to San Vicente Dam, which is being built under the San Diego County Water Authority’s project labor agreement. — John Gibbins / Union-Tribune

Ironworkers prepared to bolt together two sections of a cofferdam last week before taking it to San Vicente Dam, which is being built under the San Diego County Water Authority’s project labor agreement.
— John Gibbins / Union-Tribune

Organized labor’s success in getting the San Diego Unified School District to grant union hiring preferences on $2.1 billion in construction projects last year has sparked a major counteroffensive from business interests that say it’s bad for taxpayers.

Contractors groups have pushed measures onto the June ballot in Oceanside and Chula Vista banning project labor agreements, or PLAs. Signatures are being gathered in San Diego as well. Both sides expect skirmishes will follow battle lines drawn nationally over the agreements.

“I am basically going to put my foot on the throat of the people pushing PLAs, and we are not going to let up until they finally cry ‘uncle’ or they are basically out of commission,” said Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction. The Poway-based nonprofit, formed by contractors, aims to ban the deals in 20 municipalities statewide by the end of the year.

Tom Lemmon, business manager of the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella group for 22 unions representing 35,000 workers, plans to keep pushing for more such deals. Lemmon was the lead negotiator on the San Diego Unified deal.

“What you might see is, as the ball starts moving, that things become easier for people to say, ‘Well, OK, it was difficult for San Diego Unified to get there; it won’t be so difficult for us,’ ” Lemmon said.

Whether unions or contractors gain the upper hand will have major implications in San Diego.

The city has several major projects on the horizon — the expansion of the San Diego Convention Center, a new downtown library, a new City Hall and a new football stadium — which would mean billions of dollars in construction work and thousands of jobs.

These types of agreements, which have been used since at least the 1930s, received a big boost last year when President Barack Obama signed an executive order to lift a ban on the agreements for federal projects.

Project labor agreements typically require contractors to hire workers through union halls. Nonunion workers may be required to pay a fee to unions to be processed for job referrals and may be forced to sign up for union health care and retirement plans.

Organized labor calls the agreements a way to ensure that projects are done on time and on budget by qualified local workers who are compensated fairly.

Opponents say the pacts as anti-competitive and discriminatory, adding that union preferences make it all but impossible for nonunion companies, who make up the bulk of the local construction industry, to do business. They argue that the deals lead to fewer bids and can increase project costs.

Under the agreements, contractors are generally required to commit to hiring a certain percentage of local residents. In San Diego Unified’s case, the target is 100 percent county workers, including 35 percent from high-poverty ZIP codes within the district.

The agreement covers all projects exceeding $1 million under Proposition S, the $2.1 billion bond measure.